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Julie Felix
Julie Ann Felix (June 14, 1938 – March 22, 2020) was an American-British folk singer and recording artist who achieved success, particularly on British television, in the late 1960s and early 1970s. She later performed and released albums on her own record label.
Felix was born in Santa Barbara, California, to a father of Mexican and Native American origin and mother of English and Welsh ancestry. She graduated in 1956 from high school in Westchester, Los Angeles.
Felix grew up in a musical household: her father was a professional mariachi musician, and her mother was an amateur singer who loved the music of Burl Ives. Her father taught her to play ukulele and then guitar, and she wrote her first song at the age of seven.
After studying speech and drama at the University of California, Santa Barbara, Felix worked as a sports mistress at a school for disabled children. She began her music career by singing at night in coffee shops in her native Los Angeles, where she met a young David Crosby.
After saving up $1000 from her job, she left the United States in June 1962 and travelled extensively around Europe for around two years, often playing in bars and coffee shops to earn extra money. It was during her stay on the Greek island of Hydra that she met Leonard Cohen, who at this time had become part of the 'salon' that formed around expatriate Australian writers George Johnston and Charmian Clift.
She arrived in the United Kingdom in 1964, and became the first solo folk performer signed to a major British record label when she gained a recording contract with Decca Records, for whom she recorded three solo albums. Her first major break was a headlining appearance at the Fairfield Halls in Croydon in 1965, and later that year her first solo show gave her the distinction of being the first folksinger to fill the Royal Albert Hall, and she was described by The Times as "Britain's First Lady of Folk". Her first major break in British television was an appearance on the Eamonn Andrews TV show, which was so well-received that she was invited back to perform again the following week. Felix was also the first pop musician ever to perform at Westminster Abbey.
In 1966, on the way to the launch party for her debut album, Felix had a chance meeting with comedian David Frost in the elevator of her Chelsea apartment building. Frost – who had recently been chosen as the host of a new BBC topical satire series – accompanied Felix to the launch, and was so impressed by her performance that he lobbied the BBC to include her as one of the two resident musical performers on his new BBC television programme The Frost Report (the other being American musical satirist Tom Lehrer). Her appearances on the series brought her international recognition and made her a household name in the UK.
In 1966, following the end of her deal with Decca, Felix signed a new contract with Fontana Records, a subsidiary of the Dutch-based Philips label. She made six albums for Fontana between 1966 and 1969. Her first Fontana LP, Changes, was a UK Top 40 hit, reaching no. 27, and the label also released two "tie-in" EPs of songs Felix performed on The Frost Report.
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Julie Felix
Julie Ann Felix (June 14, 1938 – March 22, 2020) was an American-British folk singer and recording artist who achieved success, particularly on British television, in the late 1960s and early 1970s. She later performed and released albums on her own record label.
Felix was born in Santa Barbara, California, to a father of Mexican and Native American origin and mother of English and Welsh ancestry. She graduated in 1956 from high school in Westchester, Los Angeles.
Felix grew up in a musical household: her father was a professional mariachi musician, and her mother was an amateur singer who loved the music of Burl Ives. Her father taught her to play ukulele and then guitar, and she wrote her first song at the age of seven.
After studying speech and drama at the University of California, Santa Barbara, Felix worked as a sports mistress at a school for disabled children. She began her music career by singing at night in coffee shops in her native Los Angeles, where she met a young David Crosby.
After saving up $1000 from her job, she left the United States in June 1962 and travelled extensively around Europe for around two years, often playing in bars and coffee shops to earn extra money. It was during her stay on the Greek island of Hydra that she met Leonard Cohen, who at this time had become part of the 'salon' that formed around expatriate Australian writers George Johnston and Charmian Clift.
She arrived in the United Kingdom in 1964, and became the first solo folk performer signed to a major British record label when she gained a recording contract with Decca Records, for whom she recorded three solo albums. Her first major break was a headlining appearance at the Fairfield Halls in Croydon in 1965, and later that year her first solo show gave her the distinction of being the first folksinger to fill the Royal Albert Hall, and she was described by The Times as "Britain's First Lady of Folk". Her first major break in British television was an appearance on the Eamonn Andrews TV show, which was so well-received that she was invited back to perform again the following week. Felix was also the first pop musician ever to perform at Westminster Abbey.
In 1966, on the way to the launch party for her debut album, Felix had a chance meeting with comedian David Frost in the elevator of her Chelsea apartment building. Frost – who had recently been chosen as the host of a new BBC topical satire series – accompanied Felix to the launch, and was so impressed by her performance that he lobbied the BBC to include her as one of the two resident musical performers on his new BBC television programme The Frost Report (the other being American musical satirist Tom Lehrer). Her appearances on the series brought her international recognition and made her a household name in the UK.
In 1966, following the end of her deal with Decca, Felix signed a new contract with Fontana Records, a subsidiary of the Dutch-based Philips label. She made six albums for Fontana between 1966 and 1969. Her first Fontana LP, Changes, was a UK Top 40 hit, reaching no. 27, and the label also released two "tie-in" EPs of songs Felix performed on The Frost Report.
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